Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD)'s push to make stocks trade like crypto just got a major regulatory tailwind. The SEC has created a five-year pathway for qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks onchain, potentially moving equities closer to round-the-clock trading and giving Robinhood a regulatory opening for a strategy it has already been building overseas.

SEC Opens Onchain Trading

The SEC's 5-year Innovation Exemption allows qualifying venues to trade tokenized National Market System stocks via permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, while also granting conditional relief to liquidity providers.

Tokenized shares must retain traditional rights, including dividends and voting power, and issuers can object to third-party listings before they launch.

Structurally, blockchain securities enable 24/7 trading outside regular market hours. However, trading must pause whenever the primary exchange halts the underlying stock. Robinhood aims to leverage that shift after testing the model abroad.

Robinhood Has Been Building

CEO Vlad Tenev, in a recent investor presentation, said Robinhood Chain already offers roughly 200 tokenized U.S. stocks across more than 120 countries outside the U.S.

Robinhood's existing stock tokens currently provide economic exposure to underlying U.S. securities but are issued through Robinhood Assets in Jersey and are not available to U.S. persons. The company says they can be held and traded onchain around the clock, subject to individual asset trading capabilities.

The SEC's move could therefore help bridge the gap between Robinhood's international tokenization business and the much larger U.S. market.

Tenev has already highlighted the potential benefits of tokenization, including 24-hour access, instant settlement and fractional ownership.

The US Market Is Next

That does not mean Robinhood can immediately turn every U.S. stock into a 24/7 token. The SEC's framework is temporary, conditional and subject to limits on eligible symbols and trading volume. Issuer objections and compliance requirements could also constrain adoption.

Still, the regulatory direction gives Robinhood an opportunity to move from experimenting with tokenized equities abroad toward building a larger onchain market in the U.S.

For HOOD investors, the key metric to watch is not simply whether tokenized stocks launch domestically, but whether Robinhood can turn 24/7 access and blockchain-based settlement into new trading activity, users and revenue.

HOOD Price Action: Robinhood Markets shares were up 2.18% at $112.20 during premarket trading on Friday, according to market data.